Railway apparatus for burning grass and weeds.



B. J. AGREE. RAILWAY APPARATUS FOR BURNING GRASS AND WEEDS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 8, 1909.

Patented Jan. 11.1910.

EMYGDE J. AOHEE, 0F BAYOU GOULA, LOUISIANA.

RAILWAY APPARATUS FOR BURNING GRASS AND WEEDS.

Application filed September 8, 1909.

Specification of Letters Iatent.

Patented J an. It, 191% Serial No. 516,681.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMYGDE J. Aornin, citizen of the United States, residing at Bayou Goula, in the parish of Iberville and State of Louisiana, have invented new and useful Improvements in Railway Apparatus for Burning Grass and Weeds, of which the following is a specification.

My invention pertains to wheeled apparatus designed to burn weeds and grass on railways; and it consists in the peculiar and advantageous construction of apparatus, hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims appended.

In the drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification: Figure l is a side elevation of an apparatus constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is an end elevation illustrative of the manner in which the longitudinal bars of the apparatus are connected with the wheel trucks. Fig. 3 is a detail plan view illustrative of the arrangement of the hood below the longitudinal bars and the manner in which said hood is connected with said bars. Fig. 4c is a transverse section taken in the plane indicated by the line 4-4 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrow.

Similar letters designate corresponding parts in all of the views of the drawings, referring to which:

A A are wheel trucks which may be of the conventional construction or of any other construction consonant with the purpose of my invention. Each of the said trucks is provided with an upwardly extending pedestal B, and superposed on and pivotally connected to the said pedestals are bolsters C, preferably of the configuration illustrated in Fig. 2. For the sake of cheapness and lightness each pedestal B is formed of a single bar of metal, and this is also true of each of of the bolsters C.

Arranged on and connected by shackles D or other suitable means to the end portions of the bolsters C are the downwardly deflected end portions of the longitudinal and parallel bars E. These bars E are preferably formed of ordinary rails, and they serve to support a hydrocarbon reservoir F which may be of any approved type and may be secured on the bars in the manner illustrated or in any other manner suitable to the purpose of my invention.

Bridging the space between the longitudinal bars E at intermediate points in the length thereof are transverse bars G of rightangle form in cross-section. The said transverse bars G are spaced apart as shown in Fig. 1 and are provided adjacent their ends with notches H; the said notches being formed in the vertically disposed portions of the bars and being designed to receive the longitudinal bars E and in that way contribute to the rigidity and strength of the connection between the transverse bars and the longitudinal bars. posed portions of the transverse bars bear on the upper sides of the longitudinal bars, and are fixedly secured in position through the medium of shackles I best shown in Figs. 1 and 4c.

Arranged below the frame formed by the connected bars E and G and in close proximity to the rails of a railway is the hood of the apparatus which may be of the configuration illustrated or. of any other suitable configuration without involving departure from the scope of my claimed invention. In the preferred embodiment of my invention the hood, which is lettered J is formed of sheet metal, is open at its underside, and is provided along its edges with strengthening bars K of angle iron. It will also be noted that fixed to the upper side of the hood J are transverse angle bars L which are provided in their vertical portions with horizontally disposed apertures M. The said apertures M receive eyes N at the lower ends of threaded rods P which extend upwardly through apertures R in the horizontal portions of the bars G and are equipped, above said bars G, with nuts S. By virtue of this provision, the hood J may be adjusted vertically to a considerable extent so as to suit the said hood to the height of the grass or weeds to be removed from the railway.

In the rear wall of the. hood J are formed openings T and through the said openings extend conduits U designed to lead hydrocarbon from the source of supply F to burners V located within the hood, which burners per 86 may be of any type adapted for grass or weed burning purposes. The said openings T are elongated vertically, and hence it will be readily understood that the arrangement of the conduits U in the said openings will not interfere with the before described vertical adjustment of the hood.

The horizontally dis-- In the practical use of my novel apparatus, the valves in the conduits U are opened to establish the supply of hydro carbon to the burners V, and the said burners are ignited, and then the apparatus is pushed or pulled at a low rate of speed over the stretch of railway that is to be cleared of grass and weeds. Incidental to the said movement of the apparatus, the hood- J will deflect the flames and products of co1nbus tion from the burners V downwardly with the result that all grass and weeds within reach of the flames will be effectually destroyed.

It will be gathered from the foregoing that my novel apparatus is simple and inexpensive in construction, and is constructed of materials that are readily procurable, and it will also be noted that the apparatus as a whole is strong and durable and is therefore well adapted to withstand the longitudinal bars and having vertically disposed apertures, a hood arranged below said longitudinal and t ansverse bars and open at its underside, a burner arranged in the said hood, means carried by the apparatus and adapted to supply the burner with fuel, and threaded rods connected with the hood and extending upwardly through the apertures of the transverse bars and provided above said bars with nuts.

2. An apparatus for burning grass and Weeds on railways, comprising wheel trucks having pedestals, bolsters superposed on and pivoted to the said pedestals, longitudinal bars having downwardly deflected end portions superposed on the end portions of the bolsters, shackles fixedly connecting the longitudinal bars to the bolsters, transverse spaced bars of angular form in cross-section, having notches in their vertical portions receiving the longitudinal bars and also having their horizontal portions arranged on the longitudinal bars and provided with apertures, shackles straddling and fixedly connecting the transverse bars and the longitudinal bars together, a hood arranged below said longitudinal and transverse bars and open at its underside and having vertically elongated openings in one of its transverse walls, burners arranged in the said hood, fuel supply means-carried by the apparatus, conduits intermediate said means and the burners and extending through said elongated apertures in the hood wall, bars of angle .t'orm in crosssection fixed transversely on the upperside of the hood and having apertures in their vertical portions, and threaded rods extending through the apertures in the first named transverse bars and having eyes disposed in the apertures of the angle bars on the hood and also having nuts disposed above the first named transverse bars.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EMYGDE J. ACHEE.

"Witnesses THOS. C. Gnacn, J ULES KLING. 

